Ann Reynolds
"We have trouble.." Ann was appointed the Governor of Wentworth to succeed former governor Erica Davidson who had "resigned" on Ted Douglas' orders. This is a surprise, given her child welfare background and the stiff opposition from internal candidates Meg, Colleen and Joan. She is suddenly introduced by Ted Douglas with his usual tact to all of the three unsuccessful candidates at once. They all look suitably thunderstruck. Ann attempts to resign three times but is brought back each time because of Joan's failure's as governor. Ann was played by the late Gerda Nicholson Time At Wentworth Ann is immediately latched onto by Joan who attempts to feed Ann information to discredit her rivals (367) and she aggravates her Deputy Colleen into giving her a list of her mistakes (368). Her taste in men proves to be as unreliable as her views are liberal. The first man to attract her interest is Wally Wallace (the human anorak) who she invites to stay in her attic (377) and her son Paul Reynolds helps him to move in (379). Paul is a photographer, and his candid snap of Ted Douglas taking bribes from crime boss Lionel Fellowes causes trouble for both of them: Fellowes' attempts to recover the negative include sending two men to Ann's flat to rough her up (381). Ted Douglas' successor, Arthur Richards (387), is no easier to deal with and Ann finds herself blamed for poor security after the bomb blast organised by Fellowes to take revenge on the women. Her relationship with Wally develops and they first sleep together in (390), though she has rival in Paul's lawyer, Sam (413) Not expecting to return to Wentworth, she helps Joan Ferguson to take back her resignation (427), but when Wally offers to look after Paul, she is able to return to Wentworth as Governor (429). Ann's next romantic involvement is an old flame, Dr Jonathan Edmunds, who visits Wentworth to conduct experiments in behaviour modification (448), but he conducts a parallel affair with Meg, even visiting the two of the name in the same evening (449). Colleen alerts Ann to Jonathan's double dealing (453), and he is soon exposed for his unorthodox methods in a previous post, and arrested by the police. Joan Ferguson reports Ann's relationship with Dr Edmunds to the Department, and as a result Ann is placed on six weeks notice (463) and after the riot orchestrated by Joan, she is discharged as Governor (467), but before she has worked out her notice she is reinstated due to Leigh Templar's influence with politicians (469).After a prisoner strike led by Lou, Ann is put on a "leave of absence", she appears only occasionally, helping Ettie Parslow with her home for wayward girls (595) but finding time to embark on a third disastrous relationship. This time she falls for Dan Moulton, a priest and bikey, and they are sleeping together by (605). She returns as Governor in (606), but Dan is hospitalized after an accident during Bongo Connor's attempt to break Rita from prison (618). Her final battles with Joan Ferguson begin: she is compelled to accept Joan as Deputy (620), and the Minister is clearly on Joan's side, even threatening to demote Ann in favour of Joan over the handling of Julie Egbert's wedding (629). Dan returns from hospital to tell her he's fallen in love with one of the nurses (648). Joan takes her chance while Ann is away at a conference on prison reform and transfers Rita to Blackmoor (665), and when Rita burns Blackmoor down and Ernest Craven is transferred to Wentworth, Joan plots with him to depose Ann, which they achieve over the issue of Lorelei's rape: Ann is dismissed in (671). After Craven is exposed on a TV news program, the Minister is forced to reinstate Ann (678) and she pushes ahead with her plans to liberalize the prison regime at Wentworth. In the final episode, she achieves the double triumph of having her reform report accepted by the Department, and seeing Joan Ferguson fixed once and for all, she watches Joan's induction to Wentworth and tells the police that she cannot guarantee her safety, and the following morning with Meg and the prisoners, see Joan taken away Health and Other Issues She first notices a lump in her breast in (412) and after considerable delay in seeking medical advice, she is admitted to hospital for a biopsy (417), during which a mastectomy is performed. To add to her problems, her son Paul is shot in (422) on Lionel Fellowes orders. She leaves hospital in (424) but does not return to work immediately and considers giving up her career to look after Paul. A campaign of death threats against Ann beginning in (478) appears to be over when Ann co-operates with the police in dropping off ransom money (490), but this was merely an opportunistic attempt by an accomplice of Lou and Reb, and the real culprit, Brian Lowe, takes Ann and Meg hostage (498) and holds them in a booby trapped warehouse (499-501). Ann returns to work prematurely after her ordeal in (504), but collapses in (507) and returns again in (512). She seems to be about to leave again when William Coleby seems keen to organize a promotion for her (517) but she turns it down (522). After the resignation of Andrew Fry, the Minister asks Ann to take over his job (558), but she is more interested in moves towards reform represented by the prisoners' Council and educational classes. Ann has to fight Departmental corruption when Julie Egbert tells her about duplicate payments for goods supplied to the prison (563), leading to the exposure of Geoffrey Chaucer in (566), but Ann has to face an intimidation campaign from his supplier Adrian Bullock, including an attack on her daughter Pippa (568). When Lou Kelly takes over as top dog and orders a mass hunger strike, Ann offers to resign but is persuaded to take leave of absence instead (591). Notes Gerda Nicolson appeared in the series a few years earlier as Deputy Governor Mrs Roberts of Barnhurst Category:Screws Category:Heads of The Department Category:Protagonists Category:1980s Characters Category:1983 Arrivals Category:1986 Departures Category:Inside Category:Governors Category:Terrorist Seige Category:Females Category:PCBH Characters Category:Downfall of Ferguson Category:Reynolds Family Category:Council Members Category:Cancer Category:Social Workers